Ralph Applebaum Associates

In celebration of this famous corporation’s centennial, the THINK exhibition expresses IBM’s contributions to “the way the world works, the story of progress, and innovative solutions for a better future.”

In collaboration with IBM, RAA planned and designed this experiential exhibition and led executive production of its complex media components. The striking environment transformed Jaffe Drive at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts into a bright, mesmerizing, and data-filled display that demonstrated the kinds of improvements technology can make to systems around the world.

A 123-foot-long exterior LED wall drew in visitors with colorful animated patterns that visually translated real-time data about water consumption, solar energy, air quality, traffic congestion, and commerce. The data streamed in from local sensors and live feeds from government agencies and academic institutions. The 3,000-square-foot interior space housed twenty 8-foot-tall media columns arranged in viewing clusters. Deployed between two 100-foot mirrored walls, the columns extended into infinity on both sides.

The columns also supported forty 85-inch plasma screens that performed two functions. First, they acted as an immersive theater, in which a twelve-minute film addressed technological progress being made in systems like advanced medicine, agriculture, and traffic sensors. Second, when the film ended, each panel became an interactive touch screen with which visitors could explore the ideas and initiatives, tools and techniques that “make the world work better” now and allow us to envision their use in the future.